What is Achieving the Dream?

Achieving the Dream is a multi-year, national initiative focused on helping close the gap in achievement and success for community college students. With the ultimate goal of institutional transformation, Achieving the Dream encourages colleges to create a culture of evidence, to track and monitor student success, and to develop best practices for serving students.

Achieving the Dream works on multiple fronts, including efforts at participating colleges; research into effective practices at community colleges; public policy work; and outreach to communities, businesses and the public. It emphasizes the use of data to drive change.
The initiative includes 14 national partner organizations, 84 community colleges in fifteen states and many dedicated individuals.

At the Fall 2007 Convocation, NOVA President, Dr. Robert G. Templin, Jr. introduced the Achieving the Dream initiative as a tool that the College will use to implement NOVA's Strategic Vision 2015: Gateway to the American Dream. Student success is one of the fundamental goals of our Strategic Vision and Achieving the Dream is a national initiative designed to help community colleges increase the success of their students by identifying and closing achievement gaps.

NOVA's Strategic Vision 2015: Gateway to the American Dream
A Culture of Evidence: What Is It? Do We Have One?
VCCS Achieving the Dream
National Achieving the Dream